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Liberation Now PodcastAuthor: Liberation Lab: University of Illinois
Liberation Now is a podcast about research, practice and activism around healing and liberation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. We share inspirational content and stories to provide hope and possibilities for a more liberated future. Language: en Genres: Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Science, Social Sciences Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Liberation Now Ep 19: Textbooks as Tools for Liberation: Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the United States
Episode 19
Monday, 12 January, 2026
Episode Description In this episode of Liberation Now, Salman Safir and Helen Neville sit down with Dr. José Causadias to discuss his recent open access textbook, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the United States. Drawing from his experiences as a Panamanian immigrant and scholar, Dr. Causadias describes the book as a "love letter" to the United States. In this powerful text he critically unpacks the myth of the American Dream, centers the lived experiences and scholarship of Women of Color, and exposes how laws and policies actively produce inequity. We explore why accessibility matters, how stories and case studies can cultivate critical consciousness, and what it means to ground JEDI work in ethics, care, and humanization. This is a powerful conversation you won't want to miss if you're committed to justice, collective action, and liberation. ABOUT THE GUEST Dr. José M. Causadias (he/him) is a Panamanian developmental psychologist, activist, and author of "Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the United States" a new Open Access textbook published by Cambridge University Press. He earned a bachelor's in psychology at Universidad Santa Maria La Antigua in Panama in 2001, a master in psychotherapy at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain in 2004, and a PhD in Child Psychology at the University of Minnesota in 2014. He worked as faculty in the School of Family and Human Development at Arizona State University from 2015 to 2025. He received tenure in 2021 and was promoted to Associate Professor. He is currently the Director of the Education Research Center in Panama. He pursues innovation in theory and research on culture, development, and mental health to improve the lives of Latinx children, youth, and families, especially Panamanian. He has employed systematic reviews and meta-analyses to document the link between risk, protective, and promotive factors in the development of psychopathology, including familism values, racial discrimination, and ethnic neighborhood concentration. He has examined the role of rituals and celebrations during the pandemic and developmental transitions, and their link to mental health, including graduations and funerals. He has co-edited several handbooks and special issues in journals such as American Psychologist, Cultural Development and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Development and Psychopathology, and Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. In 2025, he was named Salzburg Global scholar. Selected Publications Causadias, J. M. (2025). Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the United States. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9781009098151 Causadias, J. M., & Neblett, E. W. (2024). PARQUES: Dreaming a future for our Latinx children, youth, and families. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 53(1), 129-140. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2024.2304140 Tyrell, F., Neville, H. A., Causadias, J. M., Cokley, K., & Adams-Wiggins, K. (2023). Reclaiming the past and transforming our future: Introduction to the special issue on foundational contributions of Black scholars in psychology. American Psychologist, 78(4), 367–375. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001170 Causadias, J. M., Alcalá, L., Morris, K. S., Yaylaci, F. T., & Zhang, N. (2022). Future directions on BIPOC youth mental health: The importance of cultural rituals in the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 51(4), 577-592. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2022.2084744 Cahill, K. M., Updegraff, K. A., Causadias, J. M., & Korous, K. M. (2021). Familism values and adjustment among Hispanic/Latino individuals: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 147(9), 947-985. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000336 Causadias, J. M. (2020). What is culture? Systems of people, places, and practices. Applied Developmental Science, 24(4), 310-322. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2020.1789360 Causadias, J. M. (2013). A roadmap for the integration of culture into developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 25(4pt2), 1375-1398. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579413000679 STAY IN TOUCH! #LiberationNowPodcast Email: liberationlab.uiuc@gmail.com | Instagram & Bluesky: @liberationlab_ EPISODE CREDITS Music: Amir Maghsoodi and Briana Williams Podcast Artwork: B. Andi Lee & Amir Maghsoodi Episode Intro/Outro: Helen Neville Episode Production: Helen Neville and Salman Safir EPISODE TRANSCRIPT bit.ly/LibNowE19
